Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 104 Spiritual Stone
Eating fried chicken alone is definitely not enough to fill your stomach.

The two cooks stewed chicken soup, added some mushrooms and bamboo shoots, and made chicken oil rice. Everyone ate it with relish, except for Zhang Chengdao, who thought it was just so-so.

It wasn't that the cook's skills were bad, but rather that the chicken was subpar—this kind of "free-range chicken" would be a favorite among Cantonese people in modern times, but it paled in comparison to the spiritual food made from spiritual materials that Zhang Chengdao was already accustomed to eating.

It was also thanks to the use of spirit rice made from spirit rice that the aroma of the rice was strong enough to mask the fishy smell of the chicken, which made the taste passable.

After the meal, Zhang Chengdao pulled Xu Ying aside and talked about some rules he planned to change.

"From now on, we don't need to eat together anymore. We'll all go to the [Teahouse], where the cook will prepare several different dishes each day. They can buy whatever they want to eat themselves, but not with copper coins, but with 'spirit stones'."

Zhang Chengdao spoke eloquently.

Xu Ying asked with some confusion, "'Spirit Stones'? What are those?"

"This is it!"

As Zhang Chengdao spoke, he stretched out his hand, revealing several "gems" of varying sizes, emitting a faint blue light, scattered in his palm. They were crystal clear, and it seemed as if water was flowing inside them.

This item is a "by-product ore" mined while working in the Iron Mine and Stone Mine. In the original game, it was used to enhance weapons and equipment. Its original name was "Crystal," and it was divided into ordinary crystal, fine crystal, and top-grade crystal.

But Zhang Chengdao discovered that this thing was very similar to the legendary "spirit stone"—at least in terms of its properties and the "highly concentrated spiritual energy" it contained, it was very similar to the concept of "spirit stone" in various cultivation novels and games, so he specifically took it and prepared to use it as a spirit stone.

This decision was actually made after careful consideration.

Firstly, designing a separate currency system for monks would help them break free from the constraints of local governments and the ruling class, and could also prevent corruption in the early stages to some extent.

Secondly, this "associated mineral" is very special, and apart from Zhang Chengdao himself, no one else has been able to "extract" it.

Just like those two disciples from the Spirit Mine Peak, no matter how much stone, iron ore, or other special minerals they mined, they never got this kind of crystal. Only when Zhang Chengdao put the mineral products they mined into his backpack would the corresponding number of crystals be automatically decomposed in his backpack—and the yield was not low!

After a month of seclusion, he collected all the ore mined by the two disciples of the Spirit Mine Peak and extracted more than 30,000 units of ordinary crystal!
Moreover, the greatest advantage of this crystal as a spiritual stone is that it can "merge" with each other to a certain extent, just like gold and silver.

In the original game, obtaining this crystal was much more difficult, and it didn't drop when mining. For some reason, it became a "byproduct mineral" after the transmigration...

Furthermore, ordinary crystals in the game can be combined into fine crystals, and fine crystals can be further fused into top-grade crystals, with a total of three levels, each more regular and beautiful in appearance than the last. In the hands of cultivators, no matter how many pieces of this crystal are broken, as long as a little spiritual power is applied to them, the broken crystals can be "fused" back together into a large piece of crystal.

Of course, in reality, it's impossible to distinguish between ordinary, fine, or top-grade crystals, because the broken pieces vary in size, and the size when put back together is also different. It's impossible to specifically classify their value. We can only determine their value using the simplest method of weighing, just like with gold and silver.

In general, it is indeed the most suitable currency for cultivators, and Zhang Chengdao, as the issuer of the currency, is issuing it without any cost, making it purely profitable.

“This…” Xu Ying carefully picked up a piece of crystal, weighed it in her hand, and examined it closely.

Well, it should be called "spirit stone" now.

It seems to be lighter than gold and silver, but much heavier than ordinary glass and jade. It feels cool to the touch and has a very special texture.

"These are spirit stones. They can be used to absorb and replenish spiritual energy, but their use is limited. The absorption speed is related to the cultivator's cultivation level, and it is often not much different from cultivation. However, they can have unexpected effects in places where the concentration of spiritual energy is too low or there is no spiritual energy."

Zhang Chengdao said this because he had actually tried it.

Of course, the so-called "absorption" to replenish spiritual energy does not mean eating it like candy. Instead, it means absorbing spiritual energy directly from the world through normal cultivation. The efficiency is indeed not much different, but the advantage is that you don't have to concentrate on capturing spiritual energy like you would during cultivation. You can just absorb it directly, which is more convenient.

Xu Ying was somewhat unsure: "Then... how should we price these spirit stones?"

"My three personal disciples will each receive 30 spirit stones per month. Although I don't have any inner disciples yet, I'll set it at 25 spirit stones per month, and outer disciples at 20 spirit stones per month."

"This is the pocket money for the disciples of our White Stone Immortal Sect. Hmm... it can be called 'disciple allowance'. In addition, there are also allowances based on the level of cultivation. The allowance is 5 spirit stones per month for the Qi Refining stage, 10 spirit stones for the Foundation Establishment stage, 15 for the Core Formation stage, 20 for the Nascent Soul stage, and so on, up to 45 spirit stones for the Mahayana stage."

"Within the sect, positions are paid by position. The sect leader is level one, receiving 50 spirit stones per month. The chief steward, like yourself, is level one, receiving 45 spirit stones per month. Xu Wen and others are level two, receiving 40 spirit stones per month. The positions of peak masters and stewards are currently vacant. If they become available in the future, they should be at a salary level below you but above Xu Wen, perhaps around 42 or 43. As for the newly arrived cooks, embroiderers, butchers, etc., they need to be further subdivided, but they should be around 30 spirit stones per month. Please make a table specifically for this and plan it out in detail..."

Xu Ying was quite familiar with the concept of "making a table".

After reporting to the sect leader several times about the gift lists exchanged between the White Stone Immortal Sect and other sects, he learned how to make "tables" at the sect leader's request.

Although making the tables was a bit troublesome, it was indeed very clear and easy to understand when looking at them. So Xu Ying gradually got used to this way of recording and filing. After listening to Zhang Chengdao talk for a long time, he had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

"Furthermore, the disciple allowance, cultivation allowance, and position salary can be stacked. For example, if an outer disciple cultivates to the Core Formation Realm and is later promoted to the peak master of a main peak, he can receive a disciple allowance of 20 spirit stones and a Core Formation Realm cultivator allowance of 15 spirit stones per month. Adding the peak master's salary, let's say it's 42 spirit stones, he can ultimately receive 77 spirit stones per month."

After Zhang Chengdao had been rambling on for quite a while, Xu Ying finally asked the question that had been on her mind: "May I ask the sect leader, how much exactly is 1 spirit stone? And how should it be used?"

"This thing can be broken into pieces and used at will. As long as you use your spiritual power to pinch it, it will automatically reassemble itself."

"As for how much one spirit stone is... here, this is one spirit stone."

As Zhang Chengdao spoke, he took out a [Supreme Crystal] synthesized using the system panel. It was slightly larger than a strawberry and resembled a blooming crystal lotus flower, crystal clear and quite beautiful.

(End of this chapter)